Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Toronto real estate giant is funder behind killing height limit

Brookfield Properties supplies $402,205 of $513,404 Yes on E money

Measure A would lift building height limits in proximity to the city-owned sports arena.
Measure A would lift building height limits in proximity to the city-owned sports arena.

A secretive, Canada-based global development giant, backed by cash from Qatar among other shadowy investors, is the primary backer of San Diego's Measure E, a proposal on next month's ballot to lift building height limits in proximity to the city-owned sports arena, potentially providing the firm with a multi-billion-dollar windfall.

"To unpack the Canadian group's accounts is to discover not so much a company as a giant, triangular jigsaw board that spreads across the world and covers assets worth $500 billion," says a February 2020 report by the Financial Times about Brookfield Asset Management.

Bob White, Craig Benedetto, Ben Haddad

"The pieces are hundreds of corporate entities, all locked together by elaborate contracts, which give 40 people at the top the right to rule huge sections of the puzzle almost as if it were their own."

So far, according to San Diego campaign filings, Brookfield Properties Development, LLC of Costa Mesa has supplied a total of $402,205 to the Yes on Measure E campaign seeking to raise height limits in the Midway area.

The Brookfield money makes up the bulk of the committee's $513,404 total contributions reported to the city as of October 23.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"Brookfield is a name that towers over the global investment industry, even if it receives less scrutiny or attention than rivals of similar size," notes the Financial Times.

The investment behemoth has received only limited examination in San Diego. Its behind-the-scenes maneuvering has complemented the famously non-transparent style of termed-out Mayor Kevin Faulconer, whose secret dealings regarding a scandal-plagued downtown office project have only recently come to light.

Additionally, Faulconer's closed-door dalliance with principals behind the now defunct Soccer Cityplan for the site formerly known as Qualcomm Stadium featured secret meetings with Morgan Dene Oliver, who subsequently went to work for Brookfield Residential Properties, Inc.

In February 6, 2019, a partnership of Brookfield Residential and McMillan's development company abruptly withdrew a $361-million proposal to build a hotel and retail complex on Harbor Island owned by the Port of San Diego.

"As we discussed, Brookfield Residential/OliverMcMillan has decided to withdraw from the [Exclusive Negotiating Agreement] for Harbor Island," McMillan said in a letter to the port cited by the Union-Tribune.

"We want to wish you and your staff and the Port Commission the best of luck proceeding with Harbor Island."

In July of this year, Brookfield's similarly abrupt move to pull out of a Burlington, Vermont redevelopment project led that city's mayor to threaten a lawsuit.

"We made a lot of progress over the past three years, completing the assembly of the site and progressing approvals, but the long-term nature of the next phase of this development doesn't fit with our funds mandate," a Brookfield spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal.

In August of this year, Faulconer announced that he had chosen a partnership of Brookfield and ASM Global, a holding company of Denver billionaire Phillip Anschutz, to redevelop the long-neglected city-owned Sports Arena.

The plan is tightly linked to the success in November of Measure E to raise height limits, allowing developers to greatly increase commercial and residential density to maximize their profits.

That move followed years of behind the scenes mayoral intrigue including an August 2019 Union-Tribune report that Orange County billionaire Henry Samueli, owner of the Anaheim Ducks and its San Diego farm team, had won the sports arena lease.

Samueli's high-dollar lobbyists were Ben Haddad and Craig Benedetto of California Strategies, Sacramento's take-no-prisoners lobbying outfit founded by onetime Pete Wilson aide Bob White.

The pair was working for Soccer City when it was revealed that Republican councilman Chris Cate had leaked them a sensitive internal city memo regarding the proposal.

Cate later paid a $5000 city ethics penalty, and Samueli's purported deal for the Sports Arena never came to pass.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Ramona musicians seek solution for outdoor playing at wineries

Ambient artists aren’t trying to put AC/DC in anyone’s backyard
Next Article

Ramona musicians seek solution for outdoor playing at wineries

Ambient artists aren’t trying to put AC/DC in anyone’s backyard
Measure A would lift building height limits in proximity to the city-owned sports arena.
Measure A would lift building height limits in proximity to the city-owned sports arena.

A secretive, Canada-based global development giant, backed by cash from Qatar among other shadowy investors, is the primary backer of San Diego's Measure E, a proposal on next month's ballot to lift building height limits in proximity to the city-owned sports arena, potentially providing the firm with a multi-billion-dollar windfall.

"To unpack the Canadian group's accounts is to discover not so much a company as a giant, triangular jigsaw board that spreads across the world and covers assets worth $500 billion," says a February 2020 report by the Financial Times about Brookfield Asset Management.

Bob White, Craig Benedetto, Ben Haddad

"The pieces are hundreds of corporate entities, all locked together by elaborate contracts, which give 40 people at the top the right to rule huge sections of the puzzle almost as if it were their own."

So far, according to San Diego campaign filings, Brookfield Properties Development, LLC of Costa Mesa has supplied a total of $402,205 to the Yes on Measure E campaign seeking to raise height limits in the Midway area.

The Brookfield money makes up the bulk of the committee's $513,404 total contributions reported to the city as of October 23.

Sponsored
Sponsored

"Brookfield is a name that towers over the global investment industry, even if it receives less scrutiny or attention than rivals of similar size," notes the Financial Times.

The investment behemoth has received only limited examination in San Diego. Its behind-the-scenes maneuvering has complemented the famously non-transparent style of termed-out Mayor Kevin Faulconer, whose secret dealings regarding a scandal-plagued downtown office project have only recently come to light.

Additionally, Faulconer's closed-door dalliance with principals behind the now defunct Soccer Cityplan for the site formerly known as Qualcomm Stadium featured secret meetings with Morgan Dene Oliver, who subsequently went to work for Brookfield Residential Properties, Inc.

In February 6, 2019, a partnership of Brookfield Residential and McMillan's development company abruptly withdrew a $361-million proposal to build a hotel and retail complex on Harbor Island owned by the Port of San Diego.

"As we discussed, Brookfield Residential/OliverMcMillan has decided to withdraw from the [Exclusive Negotiating Agreement] for Harbor Island," McMillan said in a letter to the port cited by the Union-Tribune.

"We want to wish you and your staff and the Port Commission the best of luck proceeding with Harbor Island."

In July of this year, Brookfield's similarly abrupt move to pull out of a Burlington, Vermont redevelopment project led that city's mayor to threaten a lawsuit.

"We made a lot of progress over the past three years, completing the assembly of the site and progressing approvals, but the long-term nature of the next phase of this development doesn't fit with our funds mandate," a Brookfield spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal.

In August of this year, Faulconer announced that he had chosen a partnership of Brookfield and ASM Global, a holding company of Denver billionaire Phillip Anschutz, to redevelop the long-neglected city-owned Sports Arena.

The plan is tightly linked to the success in November of Measure E to raise height limits, allowing developers to greatly increase commercial and residential density to maximize their profits.

That move followed years of behind the scenes mayoral intrigue including an August 2019 Union-Tribune report that Orange County billionaire Henry Samueli, owner of the Anaheim Ducks and its San Diego farm team, had won the sports arena lease.

Samueli's high-dollar lobbyists were Ben Haddad and Craig Benedetto of California Strategies, Sacramento's take-no-prisoners lobbying outfit founded by onetime Pete Wilson aide Bob White.

The pair was working for Soccer City when it was revealed that Republican councilman Chris Cate had leaked them a sensitive internal city memo regarding the proposal.

Cate later paid a $5000 city ethics penalty, and Samueli's purported deal for the Sports Arena never came to pass.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"
Next Article

In-n-Out alters iconic symbol to reflect “modern-day California”

Keep Palm and Carry On?
Comments
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
Oct. 31, 2020
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader